Connection lies in the story

Stories
from Antiquity console us and connect us as humans through the falling in love,
the heartbreaks, the sorrow and the celebrations.

Associate Professor Marguerite Johnson, Senior Lecturer
in Classics says it is her professional responsibility to research, preserve
and share the great works and ongoing legacies of the ancients.

"The myths, legends and historical
events of antiquity connect us all as humans, even if it is at times a tenuous
thread. These stories touch us and remind us that we are not alone – the same
emotions were experienced by people eons back and we may find a deep sense of
comfort in reading the works of poets such as Sappho and Catullus, and the
dialogues of philosophers such as Plato, all of whom speak with such clarity
and beauty about the human condition" Johnson says.

"Take the words pain drips for
example. That is all that remains of a poem by Sappho and in this instance I
don't want to know what would have come next. These fragile, fragmented words,
coming to us from thousands of years ago, cut straight to the heart."

Johnson's academic journey began at The
University of Newcastle when she was awarded the University Medal in Classics.
She later completed a PhD on the Latin poet Catullus and his representations of
his lover 'Lesbia.' Since then she has worked here, inspiring others to engage
with ancient lives – their beliefs, pleasures, pains and passions.

Johnson considers herself a feminist
scholar, having been inspired by certain female Classicists of the 1980s and
90s who opened up antiquity in new and exciting ways by discussing women's
lives and interrogating Greece and Rome through various feminist lenses.

"I'm very grateful to these
women. They were, and still are, courageous and brilliant. They have mentored
me without really knowing it and have given me a voice as a female Classicist. In
many ways, their work shook up Classics because they looked at gender,
sexualities, the representations of women and the lives of the dispossessed,"
Johnson says.

"I now strive to pass on their
significant legacy to my students as well as the general public," she
says.

Johnson has been involved in several
public lectures and workshops, including a talk about love and lust in the
ancient world (delivered on Valentine's Day), evenings where she shares ghost
stories of the Greeks and Romans, sessions on myths and legends as well as writing
articles for the print media. "Once I wrote a piece on love and framed the
piece by retelling the tales from Plato's Symposium.
It was wonderful to receive so many comments about how people enjoyed
reading it – it's a testimony to the power of antiquity and how it can still speak
to us."

Johnson says, "There is a yearning
for history in society. A hunger to connect. And it is through the literature,
the myths, the tales that much of the beauty of antiquity is kept alive. The
past is brought into the future and we learn from and connect to it and its
people."

Johnson is involved in various
projects, particularly research on the influence of antiquity on Australia's
colonial period. "You would be surprised by just how many classical
interpretations are embedded in the early years of Australia's white history.
The first colonial pictorial accounts of Indigenous peoples, for example, actually
resemble Greek sculptures. Why has this been overlooked? Why did this happen? These
are important questions that exemplify how recourse to antiquity shaped the
colonial past."

Johnson argues that the value of antiquity
can be witnessed "everywhere" in the modern world. "How nations were moulded,
how the rhetoric of national identities evolved regularly have their beginnings
in antiquity – the ideas, ideals, philosophies of the Greeks and Romans were
often evoked to articulate nationhood, imperialism, politics, colonialism and
by recognising this, we can contribute to current and future debates, pose
questions, and look to antiquity for some answers."

Johnson is also writing a book on the
Latin poet Ovid and his work Medicamina
Faciei Feminae, or 'Cosmetics for the Female Face.' "It's an odd
project actually, but something I'm really looking forward to. I am providing a
new translation on the piece, a commentary and also looking at ancient as well
as modern ideas and ideals of female beauty."

Johnson's academic career is marked
by many successes and highlights. A pivotal moment was in 2005 when a new
complete poem by Sappho was discovered. Except for one other complete poem, Sappho's
literary genius remains fragmented. "The American Philological Society
organized two panels of experts to discuss this precious discovery and I was
invited to present a paper. The poem is about growing old and the organizers
thought it would be appropriate to invite me as I was one of the youngest
scholars in the world working on Sappho at that time." In 2012, Johnson
was also invited to present a paper on Sappho and Reception Studies at Oxford
University, an invitation that brought together two of her research passions –
the Greek poet and research that focuses on retellings and reuses of ancient
icons and literature. "I spoke about female playwrights, beginning in the 1800s
through to contemporary times, who structure works around Sappho, reinventing
Sappho, breathing new life into her and claiming her for their own."

Johnson is also preparing for a trip
to Beijing where she will be an invited speaker at a conference on Plato.
Before that she is hosting a two-day conference and think-tank on Classical
Reception Studies in Australia and New Zealand, which will bring together scholars
and practitioners to discuss artworks, architecture and literature. "Once
again, the ancient world is present everywhere here, and the conference will be
the first of its kind to bring together people interested in discussing the
ancient legacies in Australasian literature, theatre, film and architecture."

"Through my research, I always
aim to articulate the debt of antiquity in the post-ancient world – particularly
the modern world – bridging the gap between the past and the present. Sometimes,
you think very little has changed, and in some ways that's true. We are all
still human with the same desires, confusions, hopes and dreams. The ancients
are our teachers, reminding us that we too are teachers to future generations,
leaving our own legacies behind."

Career Summary

Biography

Marguerite Johnson is Associate Professor of Ancient History and Classical Languages, and Interim Head of School, Humanities and Social Science.

Her work is inspired by certain cultural facets of antiquity, particularly the gender dynamics and sexualities of the Greeks and Romans.

She is also fascinated by the ways in which the ancients told stories via their folktales, fairytales and myth-making processes. How these stories have been transmitted by composers and authors - from Sappho to Plato, Catullus and Ovid – inform the basis of some of her research and teaching.

Ancient legacies expressed in post-ancient societies, particularly in an Australian context, is another research area.

Marguerite is also interested in interdisciplinary research incorporating and extending Classically-informed paradigms. Theory, modern retellings of tales, reinventions of myths, legends and various belief systems underlie some of her enquiries and her practice-based research. Her short stories on Clodia and Medea have appeared in Arion and her Catullan-inspired poetry in Tellus.

She is co-author, with Terry Ryan, of Sexuality in Greek and Roman Society and Literature: A Sourcebook (Routledge, 2005); author of Sappho (Duckworth, 2007) and Boudicca (Duckworth, 2012). She is editor of Catullus in Contemporary Perspective (Anticthon Special Volume, 2006) and co-editor, with Harold Tarrant, of Alcibiades and the Socratic Lover-Educator (Duckworth, 2011).

Research ExpertiseAssociate Professor Johnson’s research expertise is predominantly in the area of Greek and Latin literary studies, especially lyric poetry. She is interested in the representations of gender, sexualities and the body in ancient texts with particular attention to the ways in which the ancients write about women. She also works in Platonic studies, particularly in the area of Plato’s myth voice. In addition to these areas, Marguerite works in Classical Reception Studies, with an emphasis on Australian Indigeneity and Reception, the representations of particular ancient figures and their post-ancient appropriations (particularly Medea, Sappho and Boudicca), and Australian theatre.

CollaborationsAssociate Professor Johnson is currently a research collaborator on the ARC Discovery Project, 'Plato's Myth Voice: The Identification and Interpretation of Inspired Speech in Plato,' with colleagues from The University of Newcastle, The University of Sydney and Monash University. This project uses recent discoveries about the language of ancient myths, oracles and allegories to understand similar discourse in Plato and the Platonic tradition. It attempts to render such discourse intelligible to those who may not hear myths in the same context or share the same cultural background as Plato's listeners.

Qualifications

PhD, University of Newcastle

Bachelor of Arts (Honours), University of Newcastle

Keywords

Classical Reception

Greek and Latin Literature

Magic in Antiquity

Myth and Fairytale

Languages

Greek (Fluent)

Latin (Fluent)

Fields of Research

Code

Description

Percentage

200510

Latin and Classical Greek Literature

50

200524

Comparative Literature Studies

50

Professional Experience

UON Appointment

Title

Organisation / Department

Associate Professor

University of NewcastleSchool of Humanities and Social ScienceAustralia

Academic appointment

Dates

Title

Organisation / Department

1/12/1997 -

Associate Lecturer

University of NewcastleSchool of Humanities and Social ScienceAustralia

Membership

Dates

Title

Organisation / Department

Executive Member - Australasian Society of Classical Studies

Australasian Society of Classical Studies Australia

Member - Directory of Researchers for the Australasian Classical Reception Studies Network

Directory of Researchers for the Australasian Classical Reception Studies NetworkAustralia

Awards

Distinction

Year

Award

2005

Distinguished Visiting Scholar - Centre for European StudiesThe University of Adelaide

Recipient

Year

Award

2005

Honorary Research Associate - Department of Classics and Ancient HistoryUniversity of Sydney

1988

University MedalUniversity of Newcastle

Research Award

Year

Award

2013

FEDUA Mid-Career FellowshipUniversity of Newcastle

2013

Vice-Chancellorâs Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student LearningUniversity of Newcastle

Johnson MM, ''Toothless intellectuals', 'the misery of the poor', 'poetry after Auschwitz', and the white, middle-class audience: The moral perils of Kosky and Wright's The Women of Troy (or, how do we regard the pain of others?)', Didaskalia, 8 65-74 (2011) [C1]

Research Supervision

Current Supervision

Commenced

Research Title / Program / Supervisor Type

2015

Revised Limits of Participation in Public Life: Roman Aristocratic Women in the Late Republic, and the Emergence of Court Society in the Early Imperial PeriodStudies In Human Society, Faculty of Education and ArtsCo-Supervisor

2014

Ecocriticism and Greek and Roman Erotica: An Environmental Context or the Greek and Roman Erotic ExperienceStudies In Human Society, Faculty of Education and ArtsPrincipal Supervisor

2014

Workshopped Translations of Euripides' Helen and Iphigenia Amongst the TauriansStudies In Human Society, Faculty of Education and ArtsCo-Supervisor

2012

The Portrayal and Implications of Feminine Ageing in Latin LiteratureStudies In Human Society, Faculty of Education and ArtsPrincipal Supervisor

2009

The NT Picture of Judas IscariotReligious Studies, Faculty of Education and ArtsCo-Supervisor

2008

The Activist Life of Pauli Murray (1910 - 1985)History, Faculty of Education and ArtsCo-Supervisor

Internationally-acclaimed filmmaker, Sonia Bible will visit the University of Newcastle on September 5 to explore the University's archived documents relating to the 'Witch of Kings Cross', Rosaleen Norton.

Leanne
Glass was working as a casual at a large department store when a colleague
suggested she had the potential to be more than a shop assistant, and that she
should look into the University of Newcastle's Open Foundation tertiary
preparation program.

Florence Nightingale was a practical, highly experienced nurse who advocated the role of beauty, aesthetics and nature in medical practice. She believed buildings with windows, beautiful views, central courtyards and light were imperative for the healing process.

Associate Professor Marguerite Johnson

Position

Interim Head of SchoolSchool of Humanities and Social ScienceFaculty of Education and Arts